Devil is in land use details

Published 5:01 am, Monday, June 6, 2011

A lively discussion is looming about the 65,000 magnificent acres of the former Finch Pruyn land holdings destined for state acquisition as part of the Adirondack forest preserve.

But the contentious issue ahead is not what you might think.

As is well-known by now, the land is part of 161,000 acres acquired four years ago by the Adirondack Chapter of The Nature Conservancy. It includes some of the most spectacular wild places left in the Adirondacks, such as the Boreas Ponds, Essex chain of lakes and Blue Ledges along the Hudson River, to name only a very few.

The grand plan worked out by the The Nature Conservancy, a not-for-profit organization, was a model of inclusion. It contained lengthy and meticulous deliberations with all the towns affected in six counties, every stakeholder in sight, the state and the seller.

Everybody who wanted to be was at the table. Accommodation was the order of the day. The interests of sportsmen and localities were respected. A working sustainable timber industry on 91,000 acres was preserved. Easements in perpetuity were worked out for snowmobile trails and other public uses on most of that timberland.

But all the while, an eye was kept on preserving those core 65,000 acres, patchworks of blocks large and small spread out over 13 towns, as a legacy for future generations.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation signed a nonbinding letter of intent on the state's behalf to buy nearly all those acres over time, as funding becomes available and after a host of details are worked out. The aggregate price was estimated four years ago at upward of $30 million. That's probably gone up since.

"A lot has changed since that deal was worked out," says DEC commissioner Joe Martens, "but what hasn't changed is the state's commitment to protecting that land. What I think will be different is that it's going to take time. It's not going to happen overnight."

There are those, notably attached to the Local Government Review Board of the Adirondack Park Agency, who would have you believe there is a fight developing in the Adirondacks over whether the state should acquire the acreage. That somehow the towns affected, which all signed off on the deal at the time with legally binding resolutions, can go back in for another bite of the apple and rewrite the terms, or just change their minds and in the process block the DEC. Don't believe it.

It's a done deal. And not incidentally, a wisely done deal in the best interests of the people of the state, including those in the Adirondacks. Can you imagine what preserving these acres in the pristine condition they are in will mean to New Yorkers a century from now? To Adirondackers?

So the supposed argument over whether the state should or can add these acres to the forest preserve is a nonstarter. The state's intention to acquire the land has never wavered. The Nature Conservancy's leap into the breach to hold these precious properties for us, at great expense, still deserves our perptual gratitude. That hasn't changed either.

But as I said up front, there is a real controversy brewing, borne of the pending acquisition, that's right down the Adironack Park Agency's main pipeline. That will be over how the land is officially classified within the preserve. Or, in practical terms, how much of it will be open to motorized travel.

In this, Martens, who is also a strong advocate of the same kind of inclusive discussions The Nature Conservancy used so effectively in crafting the Finch Pruyn deal, takes the broad view of the greatest good for the greatest number -- within bounds.

"I think land classification is a perfectly legitimate issue for discussion. The fear (raised by local governments) is that some of these blocks will all be designated wilderness, and it's going to be difficult to get to places that people have gotten to historically. That has to be discussed and worked out almost up front or at least in tandem before you make decisions (about classification)," Martens said during a recent interview.

Nor can these decisions be made behind closed doors because they will have such a lasting impact on communities in the park. There has to be a transparent process.

All interested parties, says Martens, from the environmental community to local governments to the state, and other special interest groups as well, will need to hammer out what roads might remain open, under what conditions and who will play policeman. That's a discussion apt to get messy, if history is any indication.

"For an aging population, or just families (or those who are disabled) who want to get to these places, it may be very important to keep some roads open. Even though some wilderness advocates may say these are intended to be tough places to get to ... There ought to be a big discussion about that. Because I think it's perfectly appropriate to say if the state is going to buy these big landscapes, people ought to have access to them.

"And they shouldn't just be for people fit enough to carry their canoes for three miles to get there," the commissioner added. How's that for a provocative beginning to a grand discussion?

Contact Fred LeBrun at 454-5453 or by email at flebrun@timesunion.com.